The CEO of the Art, Culture and Tourism Centers of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Ángel Vázquez, spoke on the microphones of Radio Lanzarote-Onda Cero to respond to the accusations made against his management by the union of the Frente Sindical de Obreros de Canarias, which denounced the "waste" of the Centers, the "delays in the payment of the productivity supplement and other "identified expenses".
Regarding the criticisms for not approving the expenses of the New Year's Eve celebrations or the sponsorship of the recording of La Reina del Flow in the Board of Directors, Ángel Vázquez defended that "the CEO has the power to contract up to 10% of the value of the company's income", and that in his case he can "contract directly up to five million euros".
In this way, he granted, for example, "70,000 euros" for the sponsorship of the Centers to the recording of the third season of La Reina del Flow in Lanzarote, which is added to the sponsorships of other public institutions on the island, such as Turismo de Lanzarote, which contributed 160,000 euros, and the Government of the Canary Islands, which has not yet made the amount public. Or also the more than 800,000 euros awarded to Mediaset to broadcast the New Year's Eve celebrations from Lanzarote, to which are added other expenses for lighting, payment of artists or assembly for the event.
"No expense is taken to the Board of Directors unless it exceeds 10% of the company, what we do is report to the Board of Directors and the Works Council," he indicated. Thus, he added that "he periodically communicates the direction of the company and how it is going."
Vázquez was "disappointed" with the representative of this union. "I am concerned that people who do not know the statutes are dealing with decisions at those levels," the councilor lashed out at him on the morning show Buenos días, Lanzarote.
Thus, he added that "the statutes clearly state who has the power to make decisions in this company" and accused him of lying "in everything he says." In addition, he assured that the accounts of the Centers are already audited until October and "there will be money" to pay the salaries of the employees.
"They only want there to be many benefits to collect the profit-sharing payment or the productivity supplement, that is the only objective they have," he also assures that the union "refuses to let me help people, refuses to let me support cultural projects or create sports projects."
In addition, he responded to the criticisms of the socialist councilor Benjamín Perdomo, who assured that "before they paid us for filming in Lanzarote and now we pay." Thus, he invited to differentiate the filming that pays for using the landscapes of Lanzarote in their productions, with the promotion of the island in a filming.
Delays in the productivity supplement
The CEO of the CACT explained that the payment of productivity supplements is in process. "There is a process where all the payments that have to be audited are taken. It is necessary to certify that audit, create the commission that is going to study those amounts", in addition, the councilor indicated that there is a period of time for the employees on leave to justify them "to be able to take that payment" after that, "it goes to the Commission" and then human resources "calculates individually".
The person in charge of the management of these spaces, defended the delays in the payment of the supplements and assured that it has been delayed by the appointment on December 20 of the representative of the Commission. "There is no material time for the December and January payrolls to be collected," he indicated. In this way, it will not be until next February when workers can receive the extra productivity.
The person in charge of the spaces created by César Manrique concluded by assuring that they have uniforms "of all sizes" for the workers, but that the management is trying not to order more uniforms than were used until now, until the new ones arrive.
